Lubbock murder suspect has local ties

Published 10:31 am, Thursday, October 15, 2015

A 22-year-old man being held by Lubbock authorities in connection with Tuesday’s stabbing death is a former Plainview resident who is well known by local officers.

Ruben Ramos III was arrested Wednesday after police found him passed out on a toilet in a Lubbock apartment. They continued to seek a second suspect, who they declined to identify, who police think helped Ramos slay Nakasha Nycole Nolan, 23, of Brownfield, while all three were inside a parked car.

According to media reports, Nolan’s body was found inside a Chevrolet Impala, parked near a Lubbock apartment complex at 45th and Avenue P about 5 p.m. Tuesday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Plainview Police Capt. Manuel Balderas said Thursday that Ramos has a lengthy local rap sheet. His last known address in Plainview is on Smyth Street, he added.

According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the arrest warrant for Ramos indicates that Ramos told a friend that Nolan was killed because “she was a snitch.” Ramos reportedly told Lubbock police that Nolan and the second suspect, another Hispanic male, were in the front seat of the Chevrolet while Ramos was in the back seat, directly behind Nolan.

The Lubbock paper said that Ramos told police detectives that he pulled the victim’s head back and began stabbing her. After he dropped the knife on the rear floorboard, the second suspected picked it up and continued to attack.

Police found Ramos unconscious in a friend’s apartment the day after the crime after Ramos reportedly used synthetic marijuana.